Customer Reviews

The Saint Nicholas Secret

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Having grown up in a Dutch home, the feast of St. Nicholas, which we called Sinterklaas, was the highlight of the year in our family, as it still is in most Dutch families. While the feast has been secularized over the years, and is celebrated by Catholics, Protestants, Jews and atheists alike, there is always an acknowledgment of the Bishop of Myra and his many charitable deeds back in the 4th century.

With this background, I was drawn to "The Saint Nicholas Secret: A Story of Childhood Faith Reborn in the Heart of the Father." The author, Dennis E. Engleman, tells about the most disappointing day in his life, when his mother told him St. Nicholas wasn't real, and how it left a long-lasting emptiness in his heart. He sought to avoid any reference to St. Nicholas with his own children, in the hopes of sparing them the same disappointment. But kids being kids, he was asked the inevitable question.

Engleman goes on to describe a business trip to Europe, and a life-changing string of events. While on a tour of the Chartres Cathedral in France, the guide explains a sculpture they are viewing, and he is shocked to discover he is talking about a real person known as St. Nicholas. He hears some of the same stories I heard in my childhood, such as the one about the young bishop Nicholas saving three young women from poverty by secretly providing money for their dowries to their poor father.

Then he skeptically listens to stories of miracles associated with the remains, or relics, of St. Nicholas, originally buried in Myra (now in Turkey), but which were moved to Bari, Italy in 1087. As it turned out, Bari was the final destination on Engleman's business trip, so he decided to visit the Basilica Pontifica Di. S. Nicola. There at the dark candlelit crypt, by the sarcophagus of St. Nicholas, in the wonder of the place, he recites a letter he had written as a child:

Dear St. Nicholas,

Please bring me something nice. I have tried to be good. I love you.

Your friend,

Dennis Engleman

I cannot begin to describe the power of the experience that follows, but suffice it to say he receives a "gift...finding the hope and faith which had been lost long ago."

When I picked up this book, I thought it was designed to be read aloud to children, but parents (or any adult) should really read it first. It reawakens some of those childhood wonders and disappointments that many of us have experienced, and then helps to build a sense of awe and wonder at this wonderful saint, recognised by all Christian traditions, who really lived and served Christ faithfully, and continues to live in heaven.

The book concludes with "Suggestions to Parents," which will help readers decide how to handle the St. Nicholas question in their own homes. There is also an Epilogue which quotes extensively from a twelfth century document about St. Nicholas.

This book is a little gem, a quick read, but well worth the time, especially during the Advent season when we hear so much about Santa Claus, whose name is derived from Sinterklaas, and whose name is really St. Nicholas.

St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, 4th century bishop of Myra, still works wonders. The author of this little book, Dennis Engleman, visited St. Nicholas's tomb in Bari, Italy, and clearly was the subject of a miraculous intervention by St. Nicholas. This book starts out, I must say, in an unappealing way. Mr. Engleman basically thinks he was sucker-punched as a child by the myth of Santa Claus (though he makes it up to his mother with a sweet dedication) and then, as a grownup, seems to be the only literate adult around who had not even heard of the real saint whose story was twisted into that of the jolly fellow in red who afflicts our modern materialist Christmas. Then, Mr. Engleman carries this incredulity over into downright rudeness during a tour of a French cathedral, where he first runs into the story of St. Nicholas. Up to this point--about a third of the book--the reader would be forgiven for not caring, as the subject of the book thus far is Mr. Engleman rather than St. Nicholas.

All that changes when he finds himself in Bari, and what follows makes this a good book to read during Advent. Mr. Engleman manages to get out of the way of the St. Nicholas story, and at this point the strength of the book--its essential sweetness--takes over. The penultimate chapter on "Suggestions for Parents" is rock solid common sense for Christians, and I found valuable his epilogue with the story of the translation of St. Nicholas's relics from Myra to Bari in 1087. Recommended.

the book was received in the condition promised and in a timely fashion. thank you.